Chiru Kuppinta / Alder Leaved Cat Tail
Acalypha alnifolia
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana & more
- Flowering
- Throughout the year
How to identify Chiru Kuppinta
Identify Chiru Kuppinta by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a undershrub habit.
- Confirm leaf margin: Toothed (serrate/dentate edge).
- Confirm leaf surface: Pubescent (softly hairy).
- Confirm flower colour: Green.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: Throughout the year.
- In India, compare location records such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Euphorbiaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Chiru Kuppinta.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Acalypha alnifolia
- Genus
- Acalypha
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Habitat
- Moist deciduous and open deciduous forest, also in the plains along agriculture field borders
- Habitat type
- Forest
- Distribution
- India
- Found in India
- Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Manipur
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf margin
- Toothed (serrate/dentate edge)recorded
- Leaf surface
- Pubescent (softly hairy)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Chiru Kuppinta itself; the rest are typical of the Euphorbiaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- GreenrecordedGreen or greenish
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Cyme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Chiru Kuppinta itself; the rest are typical of the Euphorbiaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Telugu
- Chiru kuppinta, Mirapa kuppinta
About Chiru Kuppinta
A member of the Euphorbiaceae family, Alder Leaved Cat Tail (Acalypha alnifolia) is a low shrub. In India it has been recorded in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and 28 other states. It grows in moist deciduous and open deciduous forest, also in the plains along agriculture field borders. It flowers and fruits through much of the year.
Euphorbiaceae
Spurge/Euphorbia family
Chiru Kuppinta belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Euphorbiaceae familySnap it. Know it.
Point your camera at Chiru Kuppinta or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides